ST. LOUIS (AP)

De La Rosa held St. Louis hitless into the seventh inning and
Troy Tulowitzki's three-run homer ended Colorado's scoreless streak
at 28 innings, sending the Rockies to an 8-2 victory Sunday.

''I definitely think it was a big hit and it took some pressure
off Jorge,'' Tulowitzki said. ''He didn't feel like he had to be
perfect, even though he was real close to being perfect.''

De La Rosa did not allow a hit until David Freese's two-out
single in the seventh.

''You try to stay calm,'' the pitcher said. ''I think that
helps, but I started feeling tired the last few innings. I think
that's why I left a couple of pitches up and they hit (them) very
good.''

Mets lefty Johan Santana pitched a no-hitter against the
Cardinals last year. Freese flashed back to that game, which ended
when he struck out.

''You never want to lose a game. You never want to get no-hit,
either,'' Freese said. ''I remember last year it was pretty
frustrating against Santana and it was creeping up on us.

''So it was nice to get it out of the way.''

Charlie Blackmon added a two-run homer off Jaime Garcia (4-2)
for the Rockies, who snapped a four-game skid. They finished with
11 hits after totaling three in consecutive shutout losses to
rookie Shelby Miller and Adam Wainwright.

''Jaime definitely had a couple of pretty tough acts to
follow,'' Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ''He came out and
looked pretty good at the beginning, and had a couple things happen
that didn't quite go his way.''

Nolan Arenado, who singled with one out in the eighth to break
up Wainwright's no-hit bid Saturday, was among four Rockies with
two hits apiece.

''It's too good of an offensive lineup to stay down too long,''
manager Walt Weiss said. ''Tulo had a big home run that got us
going.''

The Cardinals lost for just the second time in 11 games.
Pinch-hitter Matt Adams' RBI single off Matt Belisle in a two-run
ninth ended Colorado's shutout bid.

De La Rosa (4-3) struck out seven and allowed two hits in seven
innings, baffling the Cardinals until Freese singled sharply to
right off the glove of diving first baseman Jordan Pacheco and Jon
Jay followed with a double. De La Rosa finished his longest outing
of the season, and his best showing on the road by far, by getting
Pete Kozma on a lineout to first.

De La Rosa entered 1-3 with a 5.13 ERA on the road and 2-0 at
home with 12 scoreless innings. This was the fourth time he worked
six or more scoreless innings, and he carries a 13-inning scoreless
streak into his next outing.

Tulowitzki's eighth homer and first on the road since April 9
stopped the Rockies' scoreless streak two innings shy of the team
record. They went 30 innings without a run from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3,
2010, according to STATS.

The Rockies entered the weekend with the top offense in the
National League and still led with a .266 batting average going
into the finale of the three-game series. Tulowitzki was 0 for 6 in
the first two games with five strikeouts and Carlos Gonzalez had
been hitless in 15 at-bats before finishing with two singles and a
walk.

Blackmon batted eighth after being called up earlier in the day
to replace Michael Cuddyer, placed on the 15-day disabled list with
a neck injury. Blackmon got a nice ovation for his fourth career
homer after mistakenly getting introduced as a player making his
major league debut during his first at-bat.

''Oh my gosh,'' Blackmon said. ''That's unbelievable. Who does
that? It wasn't my first home run, but they thought it was.''

Colorado had five hits in the first three innings after totaling
three and going 40 consecutive at-bats without a hit the previous
two days. The Rockies have never been shut out three straight
times.

Garcia had won three straight starts before giving up five runs
in six innings and falling to 0-3 with a 10.53 ERA against the
Rockies in four starts - his highest against any opponent. He
entered as the career ERA leader at 8-year-old Busch Stadium at
2.41.

''How many starts have I made against them?'' Garcia said. ''You
know what, I didn't even think about that at all. Obviously, they
have a really good lineup but I don't think about those
things.''

The lefty gave up just two homers in his first seven starts and
entered with a 2.25 ERA overall.

Pacheco doubled with one out in the first to stop a 34-inning
drought since the team's last extra-base hit, also according to
STATS. The Rockies finished with five extra-base hits, including a
two-run double by pinch-hitter Reid Brignac off Carlos Martinez in
the eighth.

The Cardinals' streak of retiring 40 straight batters is tied
for the second-longest in the majors since 1974, two shy of the
record set by the Seattle Mariners from Aug. 14-17 last year, with
Felix Hernandez throwing a perfect game on Aug. 15. Rangers
pitchers retired 40 in a row in 1996.

NOTES: Gonzalez had two singles and a walk and is 6 for 12
against Garcia. ... Cardinals pitchers had a 2.02 ERA the previous
10 games. ... Cardinals C Yadier Molina was 0 for 3, ending an
11-game hitting streak. He had five hits in the first two games of
the series. ... Jay has a nine-game hitting streak with 14
hits.

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